The gas tank may have come into play for Christian M’Pumbu, who had to defend his Bellator light heavyweight championship for the first time after a layoff of 15 months.

Attila Vegh was mostly dominant – as a 2-to-1 favorite as the challenger – to win the 205-pound title with a unanimous decision on Thursday in the main event of Bellator 91. Vegh picked up the win with scores of 48-47, 49-46 and 50-45.

Thursday’s event took place at Santa Ana Star Center in Rio Rancho, N.M. The main card aired on Spike TV following prelims on Spike.com.

M’Pumbu opened with a pair of outside leg kicks, but the first minute was spent mostly dancing and looking for distance. Vegh came forward first, backing M’Pumbu up with a right hand. And 90 seconds in, Vegh again landed a big right that dropped M’Pumbu. M’Pumbu recovered on the canvas, though, and was able to get to top position to recover with Vegh on his back. But M’Pumbu kept him tied up along the fence until Vegh worked back to his feet, where M’Pumbu went after a standing guillotine. Vegh finally got out and went back to work in the center with 90 seconds left in the round, and again backed M’Pumbu up. Vegh landed a good hip toss with 20 seconds left, but couldn’t do much with the position.

Vegh landed a left, right, kick and then had M’Pumbu on his bicycle backing up while he gave chase early in the second. M’Pumbu stepped into a right hand, then landed a front kick to the body. But Vegh followed it with a right hand that had M’Pumbu retreating and the two clinched up. Another Vegh flurry around the two-minute mark had M’Pumbu ultimately on his back. M’Pumbu worked for a kneebar on his way back up, then got to full mount with 30 seconds left. But Vegh rolled out, giving his back in the process. M’Pumbu didn’t have enough time to work with it, but he certainly made the second round a question mark.

The two danced early in the third, but a left hand from Vegh put M’Pumbu on the mat and Vegh went to the ground to try to work from there. Vegh nearly got to full mount, but wound up settling into M’Pumbu’s guard, where M’Pumbu went after a triangle, then an armbar. Vegh kept control of things on the ground, though he didn’t get much offense off. He finally got to side control, then full mount. But M’Pumbu got back to half-guard and still managed to avoid taking much damage despite being in a disadvantageous position. But finally Vegh landed a pair of elbows and cut M’Pumbu open.

Again in the fourth, things started slowly, and M’Pumbu wound up holding on in a clinch with Vegh. But they split apart halfway through the round. Back in the middle, Vegh landed a right hand, then some kicks, then a knee that had M’Pumbu holding on to a single playing defense. The crowd was frustrated by it, as was Herzog, who separated the two with 45 seconds left in the round.

With M’Pumbu needing to show a little bit of urgency in the fifth round, he took a while to heat up. But he landed a few good strikes midway through the frame – only to have Vegh answer. M’Pumbu just missed an uppercut with 1:45 left. A few punches seemed to have Vegh staggered, but as M’Pumbu came forward, Vegh landed an made him pay for a miss. Vegh tied M’Pumbu up until Herzog restarted them with 30 seconds left. But with Vegh knowing he was ahead, he danced away from M’Pumbu’s last gasps.

Vegh (29-4-2 MMA, 5-0 BFC) won for the ninth straight time and improved to 5-0 under the Bellator banner. M’Pumbu (18-5-1 MMA, 3-2 BFC) now has back-to-back losses for the first time in his career.

Saad Awad tears through heavy favorite Will Brooks to reach finals

Will Brooks was a heavy favorite and had emotion behind him, but Saad Awad never let him get started. Not even close.

The closest thing Awad had to letting up against Brooks was when they touched gloves to start the fight. After that, it was all Awad. He stormed his way through Brooks in just 43 seconds for a knockout victory.

Awad missed with a right and Brooks tried to tie him up. But in the clinch, Awad landed several right hands, then a left that had Brooks falling backward. And Awad was on him immediately. Brooks went to his knees, but Awad was right there to land more punches. And as Brooks got back to his feet, Awad stayed with him – landing more big hands to chase him backward.

Brooks went to his knees again and hung on to a single leg in defense. But Awad rained down with hammer fists as referee Jason Herzog looked in. As soon as Brooks let off the leg and tried to get up, Awad landed a big right that had Brooks falling again, and four big right hands on the ground were all it took.

Awad stopped Brooks, who was a 5-to-1 favorite in the fight, in just 43 seconds. It was Brooks’ first career loss, and Awad moved into the lightweight tournament finals, where he’ll meet David Rickels.

“I feel great. I’m just happy to be here,” Awad said. “As soon as I hit him, I saw he was rocked right when he grabbed me. So I couldn’t stop until the ref stopped it.”

Awad (14-4 MMA, 2-1 BFC) now has six straight wins, all by stoppage. Brooks (9-1 MMA, 1-1 BFC) lost for the first time in his career after opening up his Bellator career with an upset of Ricardo Tirloni in the tournament’s opening round.

David Rickels dominates Jason Fischer to reach lightweight finals

Jason Fischer was seeking a little revenge, but David Rickels was having none of it.

Nickels dominated Fischer in the semifinals of Bellator’s Season 8 lightweight tournament, moving into the finals with a unanimous decision victory. The fight was a rematch of Rickels’ much closer unanimous decision win this past November.

The two traded kicks early, with each staving off early tie-ups. A Fischer head kick led to a right hand from Rickels, and then a jumping knee. Fischer tried an uppercut 90 seconds in, but ate another right seconds later. Fischer stayed with it, though, and got inside to land a right of his own. After trading back and forth for a minute, the two tied up along the fence. Fischer tried to close the distance, but he was unable to get in position to get the fight to the ground. Rickels landed a left, then a right uppercut and seconds later came with another flurry. Fischer went after a single-leg takedown late in the round, but couldn’t get it.

After a short combo from Rickels early in the second, the two tied up on the cage for 40 seconds until Fisher was able to break off. Fischer swung and missed, and Rickels used it for a double-leg takedown and Fischer was forced to work off his back. Fischer worked for an armbar, but Rickels stayed out of danger and eventually passed to half-guard. He hopped to mount, but Fischer swept him and wound up on top in Rickels’ guard. The two worked back to their feet in the closing minute of the round, but Fischer didn’t have much offense as the two slowly went to Round 3.

Rickels landed a good combo early in the third, but a Fischer counter landed clean and cut Rickels open over his left eye. When Fischer got a little momentum along the fence, Rickels merely postured up and pushed Fischer to the ground and went to work on top again. Fischer went after a kimura and appeared to be in good position for it, but Fischer defended and got back to guard. With two minutes left, Rickels got to full mount. He passed on an arm triangle and went to work with ground-and-pound. Rickels got an armbar attempt late in the fight, but Fischer survived.

Despite his face a bloody mess, Rickels dominated the fight and picked up a pair of 30-27 scores from the judges and one 29-28.

“I came in and my hands felt a little heavy, so I showed a little of my grappling tonight,” Rickels said. “I was close with the armbar and the rear-naked, and I was really looking to finish. But I hope the crowd enjoyed it.”

Rickels (13-1 MMA, 7-1 BFC) won for the third straight time and for the second time against Fischer in that stretch. Fischer (6-2 MMA, 3-2 BFC) now has both of his losses from Rickels.

A total of 26 fighters got their chance to shine on Saturday as part of UFC 190 at Rio de Janeiro’s HSBC Arena. Now that UFC 190 is in the books, it’s time to commence MMAjunkie’s “Three Stars” ceremony.

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